Trethewey, Charles Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing and incoming director of Emory's Creative Writing Program, will deliver the festival's keynote at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, launching her newest collection of poems, "Thrall" — her first public reading since being named the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate in June.

A Decatur resident, Trethewey is the first Southerner since Robert Penn Warren to be named Poet Laureate and the first local author to deliver the book festival's keynote remarks. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for her collection, "Native Guard."

Following the keynote at Emory University on Friday, the festival will kick off Saturday, Sept. 1, with a children's parade on the Decatur Square. The remainder of the events in downtown Decatur will continue throughout the day Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 2.

This year, Emory is a major sponsor of the weekend event, which is the largest community-based independent book festival in the country, offering lectures and book signings from more than 300 authors. The event also features the following Emory authors:

Alan Abramowitz, Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science

Joseph Crespino, associate professor of history

Dana Greene, dean and faculty emerita of Emory's Oxford College

Lawrence Jackson, professor of English and African American studies

Michael Moon, professor of American studies

Susan Rebecca White, lecturer in fiction

Kevin Young, Atticus Haygood Professor of Creative Writing and English and